Part 7 (2/2)

THE RETURN TO EMAIN.

Going next morning on board their galleys, Fergus and his companions put out on the wide sea: and oar and wind bore them on swiftly till they landed on the sh.o.r.e of Erin near the house of Barach.

And Deirdre, seating herself on a cliff, looked sadly over the waters at the blue headlands of Alban: and she uttered this farewell:--

I.

”Dear to me is yon eastern land: Alban with its wonders. Beloved is Alban with its bright harbours and its pleasant hills of the green slopes. From that land I would never depart except to be with Naisi.

II.

Kil-Cuan, O Kil-Cuan,[67-1] whither Ainnli was wont to resort: short seemed the time to me while I sojourned there with Naisi on the margins of its streams and waterfalls.

[67-1] This and the other places named in Deirdre's Farewell are all in the west of Scotland.

III.

”Glen-Lee, O Glen-Lee, where I slept happy under soft coverlets: fish and fowl, and the flesh of red deer and badgers; these were our fare in Glen-Lee.

IV.

”Glen-Masan, O Glen-Masan: tall its cresses of white stalks: often were we rocked to sleep in our curragh in the gra.s.sy harbour of Glen-Masan.

V.

”Glen-Orchy, O Glen-Orchy: over thy straight glen rises the smooth ridge that oft echoed to the voices of our hounds. No man of the clan was more light-hearted than my Naisi when following the chase in Glen-Orchy.

VI.

”Glen-Ettive, O Glen-Ettive: there it was that my first house was raised for me: lovely its woods in the smile of the early morn: the sun loves to s.h.i.+ne on Glen-Ettive.

VII.

”Glen-da-Roy, O Glen-da-Roy: the memory of its people is dear to me: sweet is the cuckoo's note from the bending bough on the peak over Glen-da-Roy.

VIII.

”Dear to me is Dreenagh over the resounding sh.o.r.e: dear to me its crystal waters over the speckled sand. From those sweet places I would never depart, but only to be with my beloved Naisi.”

After this they entered the house of Barach; and when Barach had welcomed them, he said to Fergus: ”Here I have a three-days banquet ready for thee, and I invite thee to come and partake of it.”

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